WEST VIRGINIA REPEALS STRAIGHT-TICKET DEVICE

On March 25, West Virginia Governor Earl Tomblin signed SB 249, which repeals the straight-ticket device. This is the first bill this year to be signed into law that helps independent and minor party candidates.

A straight-ticket device lets voters cast a vote for all the nominees of one party, with a single mark on the ballot. Voters who use the device don’t even need to look at any part of the ballot except the very top, because the top of the ballot is where the device is located.

Straight-ticket devices are especially harmful to independent candidates because there is never a device for independent candidates. The devices also injure minor party candidates. A candidate may have a great deal of appeal, if only he or she can get the voter to notice the name on the ballot, but the device causes many voters to avoid looking at the ballot.

In 2010, when Wisconsin still had the straight-ticket device, Green Party nominee Ben Manski polled 31.1% of the vote for Assembly, 77^th district, in a race against both major parties. An analysis of the election returns showed that Manski actually won the election among the voters who did not use the straight-ticket device.. But when the straight-ticket voters weighed in, Manski was defeated. Fortunately, in 2011, Wisconsin repealed the device.

In November 2014, Brenda Hutchinson, an independent candidate for the West Virginia legislature, had a great deal of support, both financially and with endorsements. She was running for Delegate in the 58^th district, against a Republican. Hutchinson polled 31.9%. It is plausible that if the straight-ticket device had not been on the ballot, she might have won. In some elections, as much as 50% of the voters in West Virginia have used the device.

The existence of the device explains why no independent or minor party candidate has been elected to the West Virginia legislature since 1906.

Similar Bills in Other States

States that still have the device are Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah. Bills to repeal the device have made some headway in Indiana and Iowa. In Indiana, HB 1008 passed the House on February 17, and SB 201 passed the Senate Elections Committee on February 16.

In Iowa, HF 4 passed a House subcommittee on March 3.

Several bills to repeal the device have been introduced in Texas, and hearings have been held, but so far they have not passed any committee. A bill to repeal the device has been introduced in Michigan.

States that have repealed the device in the last 50 years, other than West Virginia, are Delaware in 1965, Georgia in 1993, Illinois in 1997, South Dakota in 1997, Missouri in 2005, New Hampshire in 2007, New Mexico in 2011, Wisconsin in 2011, and North Carolina in 2013.

On February 24, Connecticut held a special election to fill the vacant State Senate seat, district 23, in Bridgeport. The Working Families Party nominee, Ed Gomes, won the race, defeating his Democratic and Republican opponents, as well as two independent candidates. This is the first time a minor party has won a Connecticut legislative race since 1938, when the Socialist Party elected four legislators in Bridgeport.

On March 10, the Oklahoma House passed HB 2181 by 90-0. It lowers the number of signatures for a newly-qualifying party from 5% of the last vote cast, to 1%. The bill’s sponsor, Jeffrey Hickman, is House Speaker. The House has 101 members, and all eleven of those who didn’t vote were excused that day, which means that no legislator who was present abstained.

The bill is expected to be taken up in the Senate Rules Committee in the second week in April. The bill continues to enjoy support in the major Oklahoma newspapers. On March 15, The Oklahoman, the largest newspaper in the state, again endorsed the bill. On March 25, the Oklahoma Policy Institute e-mailed all its supporters, asking them to support the bill and four other election laws bills. The others are SB 313 (on-line voter registration), SB 315 (roster of permanent absentee voters), SB 173 (to let notary publics notarize 100 absentee ballots instead of just 20), and SB 312 (consolidating election dates to four per year).

On March 10, the Alameda County Green Party, the state Peace & Freedom Party, and the state Libertarian Party asked the California Supreme Court to hear Rubin v Padilla, S224970. The plaintiffs argue that the top-two system violates the voting rights of voters who wish to vote for minor party candidates in the general election. So far the Court has not said whether it will hear the case.

On February 25, the Arizona House passed HB 2608, which makes it more difficult for members of small qualified parties to get on their own party’s primary ballot. The bill passed on a party line vote, with all Republicans voting "yes" and all Democrats voting "no."

On March 11, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill by 4-3, again, a party line vote.

Current law says a candidate of a party (other than a new party) needs signatures of party members to get on a primary ballot, equal to one-half of 1% of that party’s membership. The bill changes that to one-fourth of 1% of the members of that party plus one-fourth of 1% of all the registered voters who are not members of a party. For U.S. House and legislature, it would be one-half of 1%.

For 2016, a Libertarian running for U.S. Senate needs 139 signatures under current law, but would need 2,987 signatures otherwise. In either case, voters who are registered members of the Democratic, Republican, or Green Party cannot sign.

The bill has no effect on the Green Party, because it doesn’t apply to "new" parties. A party is considered "new" during its first four years on the ballot.

The Senate tentatively passed the bill on March 24, but it still hasn’t passed the bill formally. The bill has received much negative publicity, and it is conceivable that the Senate won’t pass the bill. The bill does not make it more difficult for a minor party member to win a partisan primary on write-in votes, so if it is becomes law, Libertarians will probably just give up placing candidates on the Libertarian primary ballot and instead just run write-in campaigns in the party’s primary. That would increase the expense for election administrators, because it costs more effort and money to tally write-in votes than other votes.

On March 20, South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard signed SB 69, which injures ballot access for independent candidates and newly-qualifying parties.

The old law says newly-qualifying parties must submit a petition of 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote by the end of March. The new law says the petition is due in the first week in March. This is a problem in South Dakota because the state has harsh winters and petitioning is more difficult in harsh weather.

The old law said independent candidates need a petition of 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, and any registered voter can sign. The new law says independents need the signatures of 1% of the number of registered voters who are not members of a qualified party, and says members of qualified parties can’t sign for independents.

It is true that this lowers the number of signatures needed for an independent candidate, which superficially makes access easier. But that is outweighed by the fact that members of qualified parties can’t sign for an independent. When an independent petition circulates in public, circulators will be forced to ask potential signers about their partisan affiliation. This will slow petitioning, and also may engender hostility from potential signers, who may feel their privacy is being invaded.

Arizona had a similar law from 1993 to 1999. It was struck down in 1999 by a U.S. District Court in Campbell v Hull, 73 F Supp 2d 1081. Because all registered voters are free to vote for an independent candidate who gets on the ballot, there is no logical reason to prevent any voter from signing for an independent, if that voter hadn’t voted in a primary. The only other state that ever had a law like this was Louisiana, which had it from 1918 to 1948, years when no independent qualified in that state.

The Nevada Senate Legislative Operations & Elections Committee will hear SB 499 on April 1 at 3:30 p.m. It says only two candidates can appear on the November ballot for partisan office. All candidates would run on a single primary ballot in June. The first place finisher would appear on the November ballot. The second place finisher would also appear if he or she is in a different party. If that person is a member of the same party as the first place finisher, than that person would not appear and the next highest candidate who is in a different party would appear.

On March 12, four Alabama Senators introduced SB 221. It lowers the petition for new parties and non-presidential independent candidates from 3% of the last gubernatorial vote to 1.5%, for federal and state office. The bill also eases the petition deadline for new parties from primary day (which is in March in presidential years and June in midterm years), to the third Wednesday after the runoff primary. On March 18 the Senate Elections Committee passed the bill 4-2. The two "no" votes were by Republicans.

On February 19, North Dakota HB 1260 lost in the House, 37-55. It would have eliminated the minimum vote test for a candidate to be deemed nominated in a primary. The effect of the law has been to keep all minor party candidates for the state legislature off the general election ballot since 1976, when the American Party managed to qualify a few candidates. The law won’t let a party nominate for legislature unless approximately 12% of the voters choose its primary ballot. This is the first bill to repeal the vote test, and the author, Representative Corey Mock, will try again.

The January 1, 2015 B.A.N. said that a group of influential persons had organized "Level the Playing Field", to persuade the Federal Election Commission to improve access to general election presidential debates.

Since then, that group has formed "Change the Rule", to influence the Commission on Presidential Debates to ease admission. The current policy is to invite the Democratic and Republican nominees and anyone else who is at 15% in polls. That policy would have excluded every candidate who ran for President outside the major parties in all elections since 1924, with the possible exception of George Wallace in 1968. In 1992, Ross Perot was at 7% in the polls and would not have satisfied the rule, but the rule was not enforced against him at the insistence of President Bush and Bill Clinton, both of whom wanted him in.

The appeal to the Commission is signed by Bruce Babbitt, past Governor and Secretary of the Interior; Admiral Dennis Blair, past Director of National Intelligence; Mary McInnis Boies, board member of the Council on Foreign Relations; David G. Bradley, publisher of The Atlantic and National Journal; William G. Cohen, past Senator and Secretary of Defense; Dr. Francis Fukuyama; General Michael Hayden, past Director of the National Security Agency; Judge William Webster, past FBI Director and CIA Director; former Senators Robert Kerrey, Joseph Lieberman; former House members John B. Anderson, Tim Penney, Vin Weber; and many others.

Their case is made stronger now that Great Britain will be holding more inclusive debates during April, in advance of the May election for House of Commons. On April 2, the leaders of seven parties will debate each other. On April 16, the leaders of five of those seven parties will debate each other. On April 30, three parties will participate, although that event is not a debate, but a joint question-and-answer session.

On March 10, the Alabama Secretary of State revealed that he has revised regulations for petitioning candidates in special elections. The new regulation says that petitions need not mention the date of the special election. This means that as soon as it becomes known that there will be a vacancy in a U.S. House seat, or in the legislature, an independent candidate or an unqualified party can start to circulate a petition for that special election.

Under the old rule, the petition had to carry the date of the special election, which meant that it couldn’t start to circulate until the Governor had set the date of the election.

Alabama is being sued by an independent candidate, who charges that it is not realistic to expect a candidate to collect the signatures of 3% of the last vote cast in the short time between the announcement of the special election, and the petition deadline. The petition deadline is on the primary day for that special election. A decision is expected at any time. Clearly, the new regulation is an attempt by the Secretary of State to avoid a judicial decision that the current policy is unconstitutional.

On March 5, the Arkansas Supreme Court invalidated two restrictions on initiative petitions that had been passed in 2013. McDaniel v Spencer, cv-14-599. The invalid laws are: (1) the provision that says after the petition is filed, the group sponsoring the petition cannot collect any more signatures until election officials finish counting how many valid signatures have already been turned in; (2) the law that says if a petition sheet has signatures of residents of more than one county, all the signatures on that sheet are invalid.

Nonprofit Vote recently released turnout data for the November 2014 election, for each state. The 26-page report can be seen by googling, "Nonprofit Vote America Polls."

It shows the ranking of each state for November 2010 and November 2014. The two states that slipped the most between 2010 and 2014 were Delaware (which went from 12^th best to 37^th) and California (which went from 20^th best to 43^rd).

Page four shows the likely presidential primary date for each state in 2016, compared with the date for each of the preceding six election years. To the extent there is any difference for Republican primaries and Democratic primaries, the chart shows data for Republican primaries.

The chart shows that there will probably be 39 Republican presidential primaries, with 20 of them in March.

The chart shows probable dates. There are ten states in which the dates listed are not certain. Generally, though, there are bills moving through the legislatures of those ten states (that set new dates for the primaries) that have substantial support and are likely to pass. The greatest uncertainty involves New York and North Carolina. New York’s current law says the primary will be February 2, but since Democratic and Republican national rules don’t permit any states except New Hampshire and South Carolina to hold primaries earlier than March 1, it is likely the legislature will change New York’s date. There is no bill on this subject yet.

Similarly, North Carolina law says the primary will be February 23, but that breaks party rules. There is no bill to change the date, and many state legislators say they will not change it.

State	2016	2012	2008	2004	2000	1996	1992
Alabama	*March 1	March 13	February 5	June 1	June 6	June 4	June 2
Arizona	March 22	February 28	February 5	February 3	February 22	February 27	– – –
Arkansas	*March 1	May 22	February 5	May 18	May 23	May 21	May 26
California	June 7	June 5	.February 5	March 2	March 7	March 26	June 2
Colorado	– – –	– – –	– – –	– – –	– – –	March 5	March 3
Connecticut	*March 1	April 24	February 5	March 2	March 7	March 5	March 24
Delaware	April 26	April 24	February 5	February 3	February 5	February 24	– – –
D.C.	June 7	April 3	February 12	January 13	May 2	May 7	May 5
Florida	March 15	January 31	January 29	March 9	March 14	March 12	March 10
Georgia	*March 1	March 6	February 5	March 2	March 7	March 5	March 3
Idaho	*March 8	– – –	May 27	May 25	May 23	May 28	May 26
Illinois	March 15	March 20	February 5	March 16	March 21	March 19	March 17
Indiana	May 3	May 8	May 6	May 4	May 2	May 7	May 5
Kansas	– – –	– – –	– – –	– – –	– – –	– – –	April 7
Kentucky	– – –	May 22	May 20	May 18	May 23	May 28	May 26
Louisiana	March 5	March 24	February 9	March 9	March 14	March 12	March 10
Maine	– – –	– – –	– – –	– – –	March 7	March 5	– – –
Maryland	*April 26	April 3	February 12	March 2	March 7	March 5	March 3
Mass.	March 1	March 6	February 5	March 2	March 7	March 5	March 10
Michigan	March 8	Feb. 28	January 15	– – –	February 22	March 19	March 17
Minnesota	– – –	– – –	– – –	– – –	– – –	– – –	April 7
Mississippi	*March 1	March 13	March 11	March 9	March 14	March 12	March 10
Missouri	March 15	February 7	February 5	February 3	March 7	– – –	– – –
Montana	June 7	June 5	June 3	June 8	June 6	June 4	June 2
Nebraska	May 10	May 15	May 13	May 11	May 9	May 14	May 12
Nevada	– – –	– – –	– – –	– – –	– – –	March 26	– – –
New Hamp.	Jan. 26	January 10	January 8	January 27	February 1	February 20	February 18
New Jersey	June 7	June 5	February 5	June 8	June 6	June 4	June 2
New Mex.	June 7	June 5	June 3	June 1	June 6	June 4	June 2
New York	*April 26	April 24	February 5	March 2	March 7	March 7	April 7
No. Car.	*Feb. 23	May 8	May 6	– – –	May 2	May 7	May 5
No. Dakota	– – –	– – –	– – –	– – –	– – –	February 27	June 9
Ohio	March 8	March 6	March 4	March 2	March 7	March 19	June 2
Oklahoma	March 1	March 6	February 5	February 3	March 14	March 12	March 10
Oregon	May 17	May 15	May 20	May 18	May 16	March 12	May 19
Pennsyl.	April 26	April 24	April 22	April 27	April 4	April 23	April 28
Puerto Rico	– – –	– – –	June 1	– – –	February 27	– – –	April 5
Rhode Is.	April 26	April 24	March 4	March 2	March 7	March 5	March 10
So. Caro.	Feb. 20	January 21	January 19	February 3	February 19	March 2	March 7
So. Dakota	June 7	June 5	June 3	June 1	June 6	February 27	February 25
Tennessee	March 1	March 6	February 5	February 10	March 14	March 12	March 10
Texas	March 1	May 29	March 4	March 9	March 14	March 12	March 10
Utah	– – –	June 26	February 5	February 24	March 10	– – –	– – –
Vermont	March 1	March 6	March 4	March 2	March 7	March 5	– – –
Virginia	March 1	March 6	February 12	February 10	February 29	– – –	– – –
Washington	*March 8	– – –	February 19	– – –	February 29	March 26	May 19
West Va.	May 10	May 8	May 13	May 11	May 9	May 14	May 12
Wisconsin	April 5	April 3	February 19	February 17	April 4	March 19	April 7
MEDIAN	March 15	April 13	February 12	March 2	March 14	March 12	April 7
RANGE	133 days	168 days	147 days	147days	126 days	105 days	112 days

* means the date is likely, not certain.

STATE	REQUIREMENTS		SIGNATURES OR REGIS. OBTAINED			DEADLINES
	FULL PARTY	CAND	LIB’T	GREEN	CONSTI	Full Party	Pres Party	Pres. Indp.
Ala.	35,413	5,000	0	0	0	Mar. 8	Mar. 8	Sep. 6
Alaska	(est) (reg) 8,400	#3,005	already on	*1,708	*228	May 2	Aug. 10	Aug. 10
Ariz.	20,119	(est) #36,000	already on	*already on	0	March 3	Sep. 9	Sep. 9
Ark.	10,000	#1,000	*1,100	0	0	Jan. 4	Aug. 1	Aug. 1
Calif.	(es) (reg) 61,000	178,039	already on	already on	355	Jan. 4	July 11	Aug. 12
Colo.	(reg) 1,000	#pay $1,000	already on	already on	already on	Jan. 8	Aug. 10	Aug. 10
Conn.	no procedure	#7,500	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– –	Aug. 10	Aug. 10
Del.	(est.) (reg) 650	(est.) 6,500	already on	already on	366	Aug. 23	Aug. 23	July 15
D.C.	no procedure	(est.) #4,600	can’t start	already on	can’t start	– –	Aug. 10	Aug. 10
Florida	be organized	119,316	already on	already on	already on	April 15	Sep. 3	July 15
Georgia	51,912	#49,336	already on	can’t start	can’t start	July 12	July 12	July 12
Hawaii	707	#4,347	already on	already on	0	Feb. 24	Aug. 10	Aug. 10
Idaho	13,047	1,000	already on	can’t start	already on	Aug. 30	Aug. 30	Aug. 24
Illinois	no procedure	#25,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– –	June 27	June 27
Indiana	no procedure	#26,654	already on	0	0	– –	July 1	July 1
Iowa	no procedure	#1,500	0	0	0	– –	Aug. 19	Aug. 19
Kansas	16,960	5,000	already on	0	0	June 1	June 1	Aug. 1
Ky.	no procedure	#5,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– –	Sep. 2	Sep. 2
La.	(reg) 1,000	#pay $500	already on	already on	185	May 21	Aug. 19	Aug. 19
Maine	(reg) 5,000	#4,000	*100	already on	0	Dec 1 2015	Aug. 1	Aug. 1
Md.	10,000	(est.) 38,000	already on	*already on	0	Aug. 1	Aug. 1	Aug. 1
Mass.	(est) (reg) 45,000	#10,000	10,920	already on	96	Feb. 2	Aug. 2	Aug. 2
Mich.	31,519	30,000	already on	already on	already on	July 21	July 21	July 21
Minn.	98,770	#2,000	0	0	0	May 2	Aug. 23	Aug. 23
Miss.	be organized	1,000	already on	already on	already on	Feb. 1	Aug. 31	Sep. 9
Mo.	10,000	10,000	already on	0	already on	July 25	July 25	July 25
Mont.	5,000	#5,000	already on	0	0	Mar. 17	Aug. 17	Aug. 17
Nebr.	5,395	2,500	already on	0	0	Aug. 1	Aug. 1	Aug. 1
Nev.	5,431	5,431	already on	300	already on	in court	in court	July 8
N. Hamp.	14,556	#3,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	Aug. 10	Aug. 10	Aug. 10
N.J.	no procedure	#800	0	0	0	– –	Aug. 1	Aug. 1
N. M.	2,565	15,388	already on	already on	already on	June 27	June 27	June 27
N.Y.	no procedure	#15,000	can’t start	already on	can’t start	– –	Aug. 23	Aug. 23
No. Car.	89,366	89,366	already on	*5,442	0	May 16	May 16	June 9
No. Dak.	7,000	#4,000	already on	0	0	Apr. 16	Sep. 5	Sep. 5
Ohio	*30,560	5,000	in court	already on	0	July 6	July 6	Aug. 10
Okla.	41,242	40,047	0	0	0	March 1	July 15	July 15
Oregon	*22,046	17,893	already on	already on	already on	Aug. 30	Aug. 30	Aug. 30
Penn.	no procedure	(es) #25,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– –	Aug. 1	Aug. 1
R.I.	16,203	#1,000	0	0	0	Aug. 1	Sep. 9	Sep. 9
So. Car.	10,000	10,000	already on	already on	already on	May 8	May 8	July 15
So. Dak.	6,936	*1,075	0	0	*200	Mar. 29	*Mar. 1	Aug. 2
Tenn.	33,816	275	0	in court	in court	Aug. 10	Aug. 10	Aug. 18
Texas	47,086	79,939	already on	already on	can’t start	May 16	May 16	June 24
Utah	2,000	#1,000	already on	*200	already on	Feb. 15	Aug. 15	Aug. 15
Vermont	be organized	#1,000	already on	0	0	Dec 31 ‘15	Aug. 1	Aug. 1
Virginia	no procedure	#5,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– –	Aug. 26	Aug. 26
Wash.	no procedure	#1,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– –	July 23	July 23
West Va.	no procedure	#6,705	already on	already on	*4,000	– –	Aug. 1	Aug. 1
Wisc.	10,000	#2,000	already on	already on	already on	April 1	Aug. 2	Aug. 2
Wyo.	3,302	3,302	already on	can’t start	already on	June 1	June 1	Aug. 30
TOTAL STATES ON			30	21*	13	“	“	“

#partisan label is permitted on the ballot (other than "independent").
"CONSTI" = Constitution Party.
The number of signatures for new parties is in court in Tennessee; for independents, in New Mexico.
* = change since Dec. 1, 2014 issue.

As noted on page one, on February 24, Connecticut voters elected the Working Families Party nominee, Ed Gomes, to the State Senate, district 23. The vote was: Gomes, WFP, 1,485; Democrat Richard DeJesus, 791; independent Kenneth Moales, 509; Republican Quentin Dreher, 152; independent Charles Hane, 105.

New York holds a special election for Assembly, 43^rd district, on May 5. The district is in Brooklyn and is overwhelmingly Democratic. However, the Democratic nominee, Guillermo Philpotts, failed to submit his certificate of nomination by the deadline, so he is off the ballot.

Therefore, the likely winner is either independent Geoffrey Davis, whose ballot label will be "Love Yourself"; or Working Families nominee Diane Richardson; or Independence Party nominee Shirley Patterson. The Republican, Menachem Raitport, is thought to have little chance.

Mississippi elects all its state officials in the odd years before presidential elections. All have 4-year terms. This year, four parties have candidates: Republican, Democratic, Reform, and Libertarian. None of the other qualified parties have any nominees. The Veterans Party recently qualified in Mississippi, but has no nominees.

Burlington, Vermont, has annual partisan elections for city office. At the March 2015 election, the winners for City Council are four Democrats, four Progressive Party nominees, 3 independents, and one Republican. The Democratic Mayor was re-elected.

The Coalition for Free & Open Elections (COFOE) had its annual board meeting in New York city on March 14. See the tentative minutes at cofoe.org. The lawsuit against the number of signatures needed for a statewide independent candidate in Maryland will be filed any day now. COFOE raised the funds to get this case filed. COFOE gets all its revenue from individuals who donate. COFOE appreciates every donation. Members of the COFOE board are Fairvote, IndependentVoting, and these parties: Libertarian, Green, Constitution, Socialist, and Reform.

The Pennsylvania Ballot Access Coalition has been working for years to persuade the legislature to improve the ballot access laws, and is currently lobbying for SB 495. Recently the Pennsylvania Prohibition Party contributed $3,678 to the Coalition, to help with lobbying expenses.

The Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives has just published the booklet Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 4, 2014. The Clerk has been publishing a similar book every two years, starting in 1920. The book is free and may be obtained by phoning 202-225-1908. The booklet has a chart in the back, showing the total vote by party for each house of Congress throughout the nation. This year, the book treats the Green Party fairly, by including in the national Green Party totals the votes cast for Greens in states in which the party has a somewhat different name, e.g., Pacific Green in Oregon. Past versions of the booklet did not do that. Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi’s staff is responsible for causing that change.